Windshield wiper behaves erratically

[PhilEsq]

Nope. It does not always return to upright. It does turn on when NOT in auto mode, it wil turn on in OFF mode. In order for it to return to upright sometime I have to move it to any position, auto, I, II or III then to off. And then, it will decide to turn on at random times during the trip. It is stupid that this is not fixed.

Same with me. Was your wiper motor replaced yet? Mine was replaced yesterday. They said a lot of the weirdness was caused by the software built in to the recalled motor. I suppose it's the firmware. I'll see over the next few days how it behaves now.

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[65SoYoLO]

Same with me. Was your wiper motor replaced yet? Mine was replaced yesterday. They said a lot of the weirdness was caused by the software built in to the recalled motor. I suppose it's the firmware. I'll see over the next few days how it behaves now.

No, I asked about the wiper motor recall a few weeks ago when I had a bed light replaced and they all looked puzzled, like what recall for the wiper motor?

 

[sgmorton]

Nope. It does not always return to upright. It does turn on when NOT in auto mode, it wil turn on in OFF mode. In order for it to return to upright sometime I have to move it to any position, auto, I, II or III then to off. And then, it will decide to turn on at random times during the trip. It is stupid that this is not fixed.

After I realized how it worked I started letting mine return on it's own and it has never stayed in the down position for me. I think you may be experiencing the reason why the wiper motors are on recall.

 

[sgmorton]

No, I asked about the wiper motor recall a few weeks ago when I had a bed light replaced and they all looked puzzled, like what recall for the wiper motor?

try here... to see if you fall into the recall, https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

 

[65SoYoLO]

try here... to see if you fall into the recall, https://www.nhtsa.gov/recalls

Thank. SO... it says I Have 2 incomplete recalls, the wiper motor and the sail applique. My sail is ok, not sure about the wiper motor.

 

[someccie]

I replaced my wiper motor earlier this week. The previous one I had worked fine and I only had a couple of times where it came down randomly, but a couple of random swipes over two months wasn't a big deal.

However, now I find the wipers to be much louder - a loud creak - everytime the washer moves from it's home position. It also does a "jaunt" where it moves to the right about three inches and then back, kind of like a "mayyyybe I'll go... nah, just kidding!" and returns to the home position. It does this about four or five times and when combined with the creak, it's quite annoying. Even playing music at a reasonable volume, you can still hear the creaking.

Yesterday it was raining and I had to manually adjust the speeds all day during my five or so hours in the car because the wipers couldn't settle on whether it was barely raining or if I was in a monsoon. I wish I could go back to the service center and have them put the old motor back in.

This new one is very frustrating and if they had to replace the motor to get to this point, it may not be fixable with a software update.

I love Tesla and rarely complain about new features, but this new motor is pretty bad. ?‍

 

[Woodrick]

Nope. It does not always return to upright. It does turn on when NOT in auto mode, it wil turn on in OFF mode. In order for it to return to upright sometime I have to move it to any position, auto, I, II or III then to off. And then, it will decide to turn on at random times during the trip. It is stupid that this is not fixed.

In any of these cases do you have the "cruise control" on?

If the car's looking at the road, it gets control of the wipers as well.

 

[DAE1]

My windshield wiper occasionally turns on when it's not raining. A couple of days ago, while on a parkway, the wiper came down and stayed down in a horizontal position. I had to play with the wiper button a few times to get it to go back up. This is my first Tesla. A friend told me that Tesla has problems with their auto wiper, but this can be dangerous because it is a distraction while driving.

This just happened to me this morning for the first time. In my case, I think it was due to mist but it was definitely distracting for the arm to come down part way and just stop when going 70+ mph. I don’t even know what button to press to get it to go up other than the wiper spray button (is there a non-spray wiper button that’s easily accessible?). Is the solution to just turn off auto?

 

[Speednet]

Over the last two months of ownership the wiper has done a phantom wipe maybe 3-4 times. My recollection is that it happened when the sun is low in the sky and the car obviously interprets some odd shadowing or something that sets it off.

I have a RAM 1500 with the typical rain sensor that also has its share of phantom wipes. It is a minor annoyance for my RAM, and a minor annoyance with the CT. No big deal.

To the folks flummoxed by the wiper staying horizontal: If you're traveling 40 MPH or higher, the wiper will stay in the horizontal position when performing intermittent wipes. That prevents the water from rising up the windshield as its waiting for the next intermittent wipe. If it does not need a wipe after 30 seconds of sitting horizontal, it automatically returns to vertical position. No button-press necessary; just wait. If you're traveling less than 40 MPH, it will immediately return to vertical without sitting at horizontal position for 30 seconds, because there is not enough wind force to drive the water up the glass at that low speed.

 

[PhilEsq]

This just happened to me this morning for the first time. In my case, I think it was due to mist but it was definitely distracting for the arm to come down part way and just stop when going 70+ mph. I don’t even know what button to press to get it to go up other than the wiper spray button (is there a non-spray wiper button that’s easily accessible?). Is the solution to just turn off auto?

It happened to me with Auto on or off. It seems to have happened less frequently in the last few weeks but it just happened to me again.

 

[Garee]

I have one small issue with my wiper. It makes a scraping noise when it returns to the upright position. Sounds like a scraping noise of sorts. Tried cleaning it didn’t work. Very annoying sound.

 

[PhilEsq]

It still happens a lot at night

 

[SCTesla]

This isn't a bug. With a Tesla the primary objective is to keep the front camera clear. That front camera will eventually be used to drive the car, but it's used to measure distances for TACC, front collision, park assist, auto-park, and rain. Tesla doesn't use a traditional rain sensor, just the camera.

Dry wipes are a feature when the camera thinks it's dirty. Using products like RainX or putting wax on the window make a slight distortion on the window and can increase this, but dust, odd light angles, bird poop, anything in front of the camera will trigger a wipe.

All Teslas have this, it's much more prominent on newer models that use vision only. Telsa has sent out multiple versions to improve the accuracy of this, but it's still Beta and it's still not perfect.

On a single wipe the CT holds it's position down so water doesn't run up.

 

[gilbertlin]

My wipers are experiencing the same issue. When sunlight appears at the 2:00–3:00 or 9:00–11:00 positions, the wipers automatically activate in FSD mode. It seems that the refraction of light at these angles causes a visual detection error. I have contacted the Tesla service center several times, hoping for an improvement. Alternatively, it would be great if the auto wiper mode could be disabled while in FSD mode.

 

[koolio]

Just wanted to let people know that if you've had (or are getting) your wiper motor replaced, MAKE SURE the Service Center installed the new motor properly. It's outlined in the service manual: https://service.tesla.com/docs/Cybe.../em> <em>Motor</em> Homing after MV reconnect.

I had mine replaced back in February 2025, and the tech DID NOT install it correctly nor did he bother to test it or calibrate it. The signals for me was:

1. When squirting washer fluid, it squirted when the wiper was going back up to the vertical position.
2. When tapping the button to do a single wipe, it would do anywhere from 3 - 5 wipes.
3. The blade never rested in the vertical position correctly (it was off by 5-10 degrees).
4. When it went to the horizontal position, the tip was below the visible part of the windshield (it was wiping down too much)
5. When hitting 30+ mph, the wiper shifts 3 degrees (which is correct for aero efficiency) but on mine it would be about 1-2 inches past the black tinted part of the windshield.

Now, the MAIN reason why I'm posting this is because last night when driving on I-93 in the Noreaster rainstorm we had in the Boston area, the wiper just broke and was stuck in the middle of my windshield. I literally could NOT see out the window. I only got home bc I was only 0.5 miles from an exit off the highway and was able to take backroads home...using the front camera and sticking my head out the driver door (like a dog) so I could somewhat see.

If I hit the wiper button, the motor would try to run 4 times but the wiper arm wouldn't move.

Note, the front camera can't be used solely to drive the vehicle bc the aspect ratio is not 1:1 (at least it didn't appear that way to me). It seemed I was at the stop light line but the camera was showing me 2-3 feet before it (admittedly, this could also be bc I was overly cautious!).

This is what it looked like at a red light with my wiper stuck.

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